PASSING FOR NORMAL

My trip to Beirut (III)
And across Spain ...






Barcelona was a city i could relate to.
Some cities you immediately understand. You feel as if you’ve already been, in a different life maybe. The old charming balconies and the narrow streets had a feeling of home; this same trait took away from the excitement. At La Sagrada familia, I conquered my fear of climbing stairs














and I planned my short visit walking in the trace of Gaudi’s revelations. I don’t think I slept in this city. How could I when the same absolute tranquility of the day that leaves you at a distance and a privacy to taste the city alone invades your nights with the smell of the sea. Invades my room in that old hotel where the cold is hot and the hot is cold and mocks my schedules and my plans. I could hear my neighbors through the hotel walls and an small window in the bathroom overlooked the backs of the buildings where people dried their clothes, just like Beirut. The smell of the sea dragged me to La Rambla crossing the Gothic Quarter to dance with him till the morning hours until a taxi carried me to the airport again. It was getting cold by then and was time to leave.







To Milan, Ventimiglia San Remo …. Rome …



















When I tell people that I saw everything there is to see in Rome in 2 days I get laughed at.









When he heard what I’m planning on doing on the train he laughed at me too. Being an artist himself, and an Italian, he was almost offended by my touristy attitude. I met him at Trastevere my second night in Rome and I told him about my journey. I showed him evidence that I have been to all the places I should go to and to some. He was still offended so I had to explain that no place I have been to will tempt me to prolong my stay. I explained that Beirut is next and that only when I live in Beirut again I can dare to love another city. Until then, it will all be stops between trains and flights. Until then, it will all be more reasons for me to go back to the city of my heart. And I explained to him that I didn’t sleep in Rome.















Rome is a city that needs a lifetime to be explored ... And my trip to Rome, at least will need another post ...